Solana

Agave

Watchtower

would

<p>A sizeable group of Solana validators has yet to prepare for the network's Alpenglow consensus upgrade, with activation now only hours away. Data from <a href="https://x.com/pumpkinspool" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@pumpkinspool</a> shows 151 validators, holding 20.3% of network stake worth 88.9M <a href="https://x.com/search?q=%24SOL&amp;src=cashtag_click" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">$SOL</a>, are not ready for the hard upgrade scheduled for epoch 1064.</p>
<p>Developers at <a href="https://x.com/anza_xyz" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@anza_xyz</a> and the Solana Foundation have warned that validators that have not migrated will be automatically blocked from voting and block production once the upgrade takes effect.</p>
<h2 id="what-validators-must-do-before-epoch-1064">What validators must do before epoch 1064</h2>
<p>The Alpenglow boundary transition sets three requirements. Validators must move to the Agave 4.3.2 client, hold an active BLS key, and fund each vote account with 0.8 $SOL.</p>
<p>The Solana Foundation's checklist <a href="https://crypto.news/solana-alpenglow-october-21-150ms-finality/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">tells operators to run version 4.3.2</a> of Agave, Jito-Solana or Harmonic Salsa before epoch 1064. Firedancer and Frankendancer are not supported during the migration, according to the same guidance. Anza named v4.3.2 the recommended release on 16 October, though <a href="https://solanacompass.com/news/anza-names-agave-v432-the-recommended-release-for-all-solana-validators-five-days-before-alpenglow" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Solana Compass reported</a> that the post does not describe it as mandatory.</p>
<p>The 0.8 $SOL is tied to a new fee. According to <a href="https://cryptorank.io/news/feed/9ceba-solana-alpenglow-upgrade-october-21" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CryptoRank</a>, it covers the Validator Admission Ticket (VAT), which is charged at the start of each epoch and pays for the following one. If it goes unpaid, the validator does not vote or produce blocks in the next epoch. For delegators, that would mean missed staking rewards for that period, <a href="https://cryptoticker.io/en/solana-alpenglow-epoch-1064-staking-check/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CryptoTicker noted</a>.</p>
<h2 id="readiness-gap-has-narrowed-but-not-closed">Readiness gap has narrowed but not closed</h2>
<p>The tracker is a snapshot. On 19 October, Solana Compass reported that Pumpkin's Pool's Alpenglow Watchtower listed 317 validators holding 198.1 million $SOL, or 45.2% of stake, as not ready. Of that, 109.2 million $SOL sat with validators on Agave 4.3.0 or 4.3.1, which carry the migration but are not the required release. The remaining 88.9 million $SOL was flagged for problems needing more than a patch upgrade. The tracker reads balances and keys from the chain roughly every 10 minutes, so operators can still fix issues before the epoch boundary.</p>
<p>Alpenglow replaces TowerBFT, the voting system Solana runs today. The <a href="https://solana.com/upgrades/alpenglow" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Solana Foundation says</a> the current finality time of about 12.8 seconds is targeted to fall to roughly 150 milliseconds. Execution, program behavior and fees stay unchanged, according to <a href="https://www.bitbase.com/news/solana-alpenglow-october-21-150ms-finality" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BitBase</a>.</p>
<p>With the activation window close, the $SOL at stake sits with operators who still need to switch clients, register BLS keys or top up vote accounts.</p>
<h2 id="sources">Sources</h2>
<p><a href="https://solanacompass.com/news/alpenglow-tracker-flags-45-of-solana-stake-as-not-ready-two-days-before-epoch-1064-most-of-it-on-agave-430-and-431" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Solana Compass: Alpenglow readiness tracker</a><br><a href="https://solana.com/upgrades/alpenglow" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Solana Foundation: Alpenglow upgrade page</a><br><a href="https://cryptorank.io/news/feed/9ceba-solana-alpenglow-upgrade-october-21" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CryptoRank: Alpenglow upgrade explainer</a></p>

Solana validators still aren't ready for the Alpenglow upgrade!

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